December has provent to be a very busy month for both Bungie as well as the Destiny 2 player base. Following the lull of November, this month has already seen Bungie’s big Anniversary Update which not only added a major game update, but new content and loot to obtain as well. Players have been exploring a new Dungeon based on the old Destiny loot cave, and reuniting with returning gear like the exotic rocket launcher Gjallarhorn.

Just this past week, The Dawning also arrived, adding an additional layer of content over what players have already been doing. While The Dawning has its own quest line and gear to obtain, a lot of it revolves around collecting ingredients for baking treats for the various NPCs, easily obtained through just playing the game. Thankfully, players can continue enjoying the anniversary content, while also scoring materials needed for The Dawning as well.

With the weekend finally here, that means Xur and his exotic wares have arrived in Destiny 2 for the next few days. Follow this guide for his most current weekend location, news on his exotic cypher quest, as well as a review of all the exotic gear he’s brought for the weekend of December 17, 2021.

Where is Xur?

This weekend, Destiny 2 players can find Xur inside of the EDZ.

Fast travel to the Winding Cove zone and immediately head towards the back where the Fallen typically patrol. Climb the cliffs back here to find Xur standing on a ledge not too far from a crashed ship.

Class Armor and Exotic Cypher

In Season of the Lost, Xur’s role has expanded as the exotic merchant has weekly quests, exotics, and legendary gear. Not only are these quests required to purchase a second fated engram, but they’re necessary to acquire legacy exotic gear from the Tower kiosk. Players can earn a new cypher by completing strikes and winning crucible or gambit matches. Gain bonus points for playing with clanmates or finishing more challenging activities.

With Season 15, Xur is now selling even more gear outside of his usual content. In addition to his normal exotic gear, Xur now has Legendary Weapons and Armor for sale in exchange for Legendary Shards and Glimmer. Better yet, the stat rolls are pretty solid on the Black Armor gear for this week.

Exotic Armor

Lunafaction Boots – Warlock leg armor

Just weeks later, the Lunafaction Boots are back again. At one point in time, Lunafaction Boots were the must have exotic for Warlocks thanks to how helpful there were with overcoming challenging content. With the arrival of the Shadowkeep expansion, the boots recieved a heavy nerf and have since been replaced as the best of the best.

However, they’re still viable in certain spots thanks to its exotic perk, Alchemical Etchings, which provides a substantial impact to both rifts. All rifts now gain the added ability to increase weapon reload speeds while Empowering Rift makes weapons more effective over longer ranges While no where near as strong as they used to be, this pair is definitely recommended thanks in large part to the huge 68 stat roll this week.

Solar Enhanced. Stat Values:

• Mobility +12
• Resilience +7
• Recovery +15
• Discipline +2
• Intellect +20
• Strength +12

Shards of Galanor – Hunter gauntlets

It’s been a very long time but the mid-tree Gunslinger exotic Shards of Galanor is available at Xur once more. Sharp Edges is the exotic perk on these and it returns super energy for hits and kills with Blade Barrage once the super ends. Well. to a point.

While not nearly as effective as they once were, the Shards are still a viable option for Hunters of like to run Blade Barrage and Way of a Thousand Cuts. It’s not going to give back an entire super meter like it used to thanks to a recent Season 15 nerf by Bungie, but it will still help get players back there faster than normal. Similar to the Lunafactions above, the roll this week is particularly good at a total of 66, which means they may be worth picking up.

Solar Enhanced. Stat Values:

• Mobility +14
• Resilience +9
• Recovery +10
• Discipline +8
• Intellect +23
• Strength +2

Lion Rampant – Titan leg armor

Titans who need a bit of mobility and stability when making tricky jumps will want these rocket boots. Similar to the St0mp-EEZ for Hunters, Lion Rampant’s come with the perk Jump Jets which provides added maneuverability in the air and enables accurate hipfire while players are in the air during Lift. Basically, these boosts will help make Lift Titans jump for twice as long.

Naturally, these boots are great for more platforming based activities typically involved in Dungeons, Raids, or missions like Harbinger to name a few. Outside of that, a players mileage will vary as they don’t offer a significant boost to combat boost like other Titan exotics. Unfortunately, these exotics don’t quite compare to the other two in terms of stat roll this week especially for Titans who rely on a melee focused build.

Arc Enhanced. Stat Values:

• Mobility +10
• Resilience +16
• Recovery +6
• Discipline 16
• Intellect +13
• Strength +2

Exotic Weapon

This week, the pulse rifle known as Graviton Lance is in stock. Black Hole is its exotic perk which gives the second shot of a burst high damage and recoil with no falloff. It synergizes with the Cosmology perk as any kills made with the gun cause enemies to detonate and spawn Void projectiles that track other targets.

After all this time, pulse rifles remain a very strong weapon class in Destiny 2, so this is already a solid weapon. While effective in PvP, this gun really shines when up against multiple enemies for its ability to cause AoE damage.

Additional perks:

• Hammer Forged Rifling
• Accurized Rounds
• Fitted Stock

Here’s the complete rundown of Xur’s exotic stock in Destiny 2 for December 17, 2021:

• Lunafaction Boots (Warlock leg armor) – 23 Legendary Shards
• Shards of Galanor (Hunter gauntlets) – 23 Legendary Shards
• Lion Rampant (Titan leg armor) – 23 Legendary Shards
• Graviton Lance (Pulse Rifle) – 29 Legendary Shards
• Exotic Engram – 97 Legendary Shards/1 Exotic Cypher
• A Question – Exotic Cypher Quest

Legendary Gear

As previously mentioned, Xur now sells Legendary Armor and Weapons. All gear costs 50 Legendary Shards and 1000 Glimmer.

• Escape Velocity (Primary Submachine Gun)
• Cold Denial (Primary Pulse Rifle)
• Toil and Trouble (Primary Shotgun)
• First In, Last Out (Energy Shotgun)
• The Last Dance (Energy Sidearm)
• Royal Entry (Heavy Rocket Launcher)
• Falling Guillotine (Heavy Sword)
• Wild Hunt Armor Set

Destiny 2 is now available PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.